After church and some more leaf raking we got the kids ready for a Halloween Party at the invitation of some of the girls' school friends. Their mother is English - but has been here for some time and she managed to get some of her English colleagues to join her in performing a little pantomime on their porch. All the features were in place:Dame - check.
Audience participation - check.
Sing-along - check,
Shouting children - check your hearing.
The sing-along was to a popular tune modified to "It's a long way to Widow Twanky's" and the suitably butch Dame doubled as a rather camp fairy - all bases covered. It was fun to see a some Americans encountering UK/US culture-shock for a change.
The rest of the party was inside the rather lovely house. There was lots of food and drink and pretty good conversation as these sorts of events go - improved by the fact that most of the kids spent most of their time in a basement playroom. As the sun went down I took this picture from the deck. Not a bad spot really :-)
How do you guys deal with the halloween thing over there?
ReplyDeleteI don't really have strong opinions myself, though I'm not sure about the whole 'celebration of death and magic' aspect of it, and don't really know how we'll deal with it when J is old enough to get invited to halloween parties. I don't mind trick or treaters knocking on the door, mainly because they all live on street and are pretty young and just see it as a game.
Is it more of a commercial event there? How do churches react to it; do they have 'light parties' or other Christian themed alternatives like we do here?
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It would seem here that people are less uptight about it in general. I think because the commercial and 'any excuse for a party' aspects have a life of their own here (much like we found at St Patrick's Day) largely divorced from the 'meaning' of the festival.
ReplyDeleteAlthough some churches may avoid it, I think most accept it either actively or passively according to their choice as with any other non-religious festival (like New Year for example).
As for me, I think it is like how you cope with the commercialisation of Christian festivals such as Christmas. I am happy for my children to enjoy the present giving, Santa-expecting, reindeer-spotting elements but also want them to know how my faith informs the 'real meaning' of the festival. For Halloween, they can similarly get involved in parties, dressing up and civilised trick-or-treating (maybe - if we're brave enough) as long as our faith is able to inform the 'real meaning' as and when it encroaches on their fun.
They look so cute in their costumes. :) I will have to tell them next time I see them.
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